WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES AND PRACTICES COMPREHENSIVE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PLANNING GUIDELINES for the Gulf Prairies and Marshes Ecological Region Revised April 2010 The following Texas Parks & Wildlife Department staff have contributed to this document: Kirby Brown, Private Lands and Habitat Program Director (Retired) Gary Homerstad, Technical Guidance Biologist (Retired) Matt Wagner, Technical Guidance Biologist – College Station Jim Dillard, Technical Guidance Biologist – Mineral Wells (Retired) Linda Campbell, Program Director, Private Lands and Public Hunting Program -- Austin Linda McMurry, Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Assistant -- Austin With Additional Contributions From: Terry Turney, Rare Species Biologist, San Marcos Trey Carpenter, Manager -- Granger Wildlife Management Area Dale Prochaska, Private Lands Biologist – Kerr Wildlife Management Area Nathan Rains, Private Lands Biologist – Cleburne TABLE OF CONTENTS Comprehensive Wildlife Management Planning Guidelines Gulf Prairies and Marshes Ecological Region INTRODUCTION Specific Habitat Management Practices, by Activities HABITAT CONTROL EROSION CONTROL PREDATOR CONTROL PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL WATER PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL FOOD PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL SHELTER CENSUS APPENDICES APPENDIX A: General Habitat Management Considerations, Recommendations, and Intensity Levels APPENDIX B: Determining Qualification for Wildlife Management Use APPENDIX C: Wildlife Management Plan Overview APPENDIX D: Livestock Management Recommendations APPENDIX E: Vegetation Management Recommendations APPENDIX F: Specific Management Recommendations for White-tailed Deer APPENDIX G: Specific Management Recommendations for Bobwhite Quail APPENDIX H: Specific Management Recommendations for Rio Grande Turkey APPENDIX I: Comments Concerning Federally Listed Endangered Species APPENDIX J: Nongame Wildlife Management Recommendations APPENDIX K: Guidelines for Native Grassland Restoration Projects APPENDIX L: Conducting W-T Deer Spotlight Surveys in the Gulf Plains and Marshes APPENDIX M: Herd Composition: An Essential Element in Deer Management APPENDIX N: Food Plots for White-tailed Deer in the Gulf Prairies and Marshes APPENDIX O: Wildlife Watering Facilities APPENDIX P: Managing Red Imported Fireants in Wildlife Areas APPENDIX Q: Trapping Brown-headed Cowbirds to Control Songbird Nest Parasitism APPENDIX R: Small Acreage Management Techniques APPENDIX S: The Value of Dead and Down Wood APPENDIX T: References APPENDIX U: Forms APPENDIX V: TEXAS WILDSCAPES Native Plants List and Bibliography APPENDIX W: Learn About Whitetails APPENDIX X: Pesticides and Brush Control COMPREHENSIVE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PLANNING GUIDELINES for the Gulf Prairies and Marshes Ecological Region (Prepared in partial fulfillment of the requirements of HB 1358 - Wildlife Management Property Tax Valuation and HB3123 - relating to the standards for determining whether land qualifies for appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes as open-space land based on its use for wildlife management.) Introduction The Texas Constitution and the legislature provides those landowners with a current 1-d-1 Agricultural Valuation (often known as an Ag Exemption) an opportunity to change from a traditional qualifying agricultural practice to wildlife management as a qualifying agricultural practice while maintaining the current valuation. HB 1358 by Representative Clyde Alexander provided that the landowner must implement and complete at least one management practice from at least three of the seven wildlife management activities listed in Appendix A. Most landowners interested in wildlife can meet this requirement, and implement several practices beyond the minimum required. The 2001 legislative session passed HB3123, co-sponsored by Representative Bob Turner and Representative Clyde Alexander. This bill provided for further clarification of the standards required for determining whether land qualifies for appraisal as open-space land based on wildlife management. As a result of HB3123, more uniform standards of qualifying for wildlife management have been applied statewide. Wildlife Management Tax Valuation Land that qualifies for an agricultural valuation is appraised on its productivity value rather than on its market value. While many people refer to such land as having an “ag exemption”, in fact there is no such exemption—it is just a different method of calculating the land’s value for ad valorem tax purposes. Correctly speaking such land has an agricultural valuation. Under Texas law, wildlife management is legally nothing more than an additional qualifying agricultural practice people may choose from in order to maintain the agricultural valuation on their land. Just as there is no real ag “exemption”, there also is no wildlife “exemption”. Wildlife management is not an additional appraisal, nor is it separate from “traditional” agriculture. For ad valorem tax purposes wildlife management is agriculture. There is no change in the ad valorem tax valuation with wildlife management, only a change in the qualifying agricultural practice. Acreage Requirements There are no minimum acreage requirements unless since the previous tax year the landowner has sold, gifted, or otherwise reduced the size of their ag appraised property; the landowner has purchased or otherwise acquired property that has been partitioned out of a larger agriculturally qualified tract. When either a change in ownership or tract size occurs, the minimum acreage requirements apply. Landowners acquiring property that has been partitioned out of a larger qualifying tract since the previous tax year, and those who have reduced the size of their property need to be certain that the property will meet the minimum size as set by the county. Refer to Appendix B for the maximum and minimum acreages by region, and to your county Central Appraisal District office for the minimum acreage size adopted. It is important to note that regardless of the property size, it must still be appraised for open-space use before it is eligible to change over to wildlife management use. When a qualifying tract of land is broken into smaller tracts and sold, the standards for minimum eligible tract size take effect. These sizes are determined by location within the state. Within each area, the county has the ability to choose within a specified range the minimum qualifying acreage. Tracts below this minimum size are not eligible to manage for wildlife as their agricultural practice for ad valorem tax purposes. The exception is for landowners who are buying property in a Wildlife Management Property Owners’ Association. Wildlife management property owners associations are community developments similar to wildlife management co- ops, but differ in that each person buying into the neighborhood must make a legal commitment to practice a certain level of wildlife management. Deed restrictions, conservation easements, property owner agreements, or other legally binding covenants insure that the habitat for wildlife is protected and managed in exchange for landowners being able to maintain an agricultural valuation based on wildlife management. If such legally binding covenants exist, the county may set a 1% or 2% lower minimum acreage requirement. These same lower minimum acreages also apply to landowners who have habitat for threatened or endangered species or a species of concern. While the actual presence of the species on the property is not required, a qualified wildlife professional must verify that the habitat for the species does in fact exist on the property before this exception is granted by the county. Although landowners with smaller tracts of land are encouraged to work cooperatively with their neighbors for some wildlife management practices, such as conducting a population census, each landowner must also individually be doing three practices of an appropriate intensity level on their property, submit their own individual wildlife management plan and be able to qualify on their own. The Wildlife Management Plan This guide is intended to provide landowners with information to develop their own plans. The plan may be as simple or as extensive as the landowner chooses. The practices described in this guide are intended only as guidelines. Certain site-specific situations may necessitate changes that can be allowed, if based on trained resource professionals’ recommendations. All landowners are required to develop and submit a wildlife management plan to the county Central Appraisal District along with their 1-d-1 Open Space Appraisal Application. All wildlife management plans must be on the form provided by Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. This form, PWD 885-W7000, is included in Appendix U. While a comprehensive and highly detailed written wildlife management plan as described in these guidelines is not required by the county, it is highly recommended that the landowner go through this lengthier exercise and use this lengthier plan as a guide when filling out the required PWD 885-W7000 wildlife management plan form. The plan must address a separate practice in at least three of the seven wildlife management categories. A wildlife management plan describes historic and current land use practices, establishes landowner goals and objectives (also family goals if desired) for the property, and describes specific activities and practices designed to benefit wildlife species of interest and their habitats. This is the landowner's plan, designed by the landowner, with the possible